The question comes up here every so often, and at least annually on the local social media groups: “What’s the deal with VEO?”
It’s asked out of irritation, but sometimes pure curiosity. The tag is ubiquitous in Hartford, while also showing up in exurban parts of Connecticut. Does this tagger live in Hartford and wander off? Is it a kid from the sticks who gets bored and comes here to write on everything? An actuary (whatever the hell that is) trying to spice up his lunch break with some petty criming? Is Veo several people?
I am not a graffiti expert, and anyone who speaks too confidently about it is equally full of it.
But I have to laugh at the idea some folks have that VEO/VO/VEOH is gang graffiti. Like, y’all, have you spent time looking at graffiti? Gang graffiti, at least in Hartford, is super lazy. No flair.
Veo et al, however, takes time to show style and select bizarre spots to tag.
(No, I do not love someone tagging private property…but…)
There is something to be said for graffiti that is placed in very hard-to-reach spots. Anyone can scrawl garbage at eye level. Veoh? This stuff can be spotted on rooftops. Inside at least one drainage pipe. If you sift through photos on this site, you’ll find the tag captured probably a dozen times — most unintentionally.
I’m pretty sure I spotted a VO tag in a television show filmed in France, but it’s possible my mind was just filling in the background automatically with what it assumed would be there, cluttering up the scene.
But what does it mean?
I don’t know.
“Veo” means see in Spanish. It could be someone asking you to look places. I realize this makes me the number one suspect, but I assure you, I have too much to do as it is, and I would not paint on rocks.
If not that, maybe it’s someone’s name or stylized version of initials, using symbols inspired by (but not exact replicas of) stereo buttons (play, pause, power. The symbols could mean something else, or nothing at all. We could play this game all day.
Anyway, I find the fascination with Veo a little strange, though I do ask myself how I have not spotted this person in action yet.